An originator of the famer's
market movement in Georgia, and an active member of the
Georgia House of Representatives, James William Barwick
was born in Ochlocknee, May 27, 1872, and died at
Thomasville, June 5, 1951. He is numbered among the men
of vision of modern Georgia. In the section of the state
where he was raised at the time conditions were such that
it was very difficult to obtain an education. However, he
did manage to secure a few years training in the country
grade schools and then by observation and long hours of
home study, until, only nineteen years of age, he won a
competitive examination for school teacher and devoted
two years to the profession.

At that time he developed an
idea for the enlargement and improvement of telephone
exchanges and, going down into Florida, he built and
operated a highly successful telephone system, in
association with two men from Ohio. Later he sold his
interest in the telephone company and entered the
wholesale market business. Out of this interest he
developed a farm to market system which was the first
such merchandising method adopted in the state of
Georgia, and in the United States. He subsequently sold
out his interest in these markets and organized the
BARWICK HOE AND CANE STRIPPER Company which he operated
for several years before he once again sold out and
organized a wholesale soft drink business in Atlanta. In
connection with this business, he became active in the
merchandising of syrup in Georgia.

It was at about this time that
the Bell Telephone System requested him to go to
Washington, District of Columbia, as their representative
at his own salary-but he refused the offer. He was deeply
interested in the Confederate History, as his home was
located on one of the old battlefields of the Atlanta
campaign and he went about the state as an avocation,
placing markers on the graves of Confederate soldiers.
During the final period of his long career, he was
associated with the Department of Agriculture.

A Democrat politically, he
served in the House of Representatives from Grady County
and was active in the support of all good legislation.
One noteworthy action of his at this time was the effort
which resulted in raising from $30 to $50 the monthly
pensions paid to widows of the veterans of the War
Between the States. He was a member of the Baptist
Church.

James William Barwick married,
first, July 12, 1899, Tilda Leavel, daughter of John
Leavel , a Baptist minister and a volunteer in the
Confederate Army from Georgia. She died in
1910 James was the father of two children by his
first marriage: 1. Jackson Leavel 2. Marguetitte. There
are two grandchildren: 1. Jackson Leavel, JR 2. Tillie
Ann. Jackson, JR is the father of two sons: Jackson
Leavel, III and LarryBarwick.

Taken from "Atlanta and
Environs..Family and Personal History" p 359

Another interesting note -
James was business partners for a time with Isaac E
Barwick of Wildwood, Sumpter Co, Fl. Though they shared
the same name, there was no awareness of how they were
related.( See Isaac E Barwick in our files) Isaac created
the town of Wildwood, FL .purchased the land and
designed the town. Isaac E was James third cousin once
removed AND uncle to James's wife, Tilly. And so
descendants of brothers William Blueford and Joseph
Barwick generations later found one another and married.